Sunday, January 22, 2012

Ree-Juvenated

Here we go, the first of some very early Pogo Sunday strips, courtesy of DJ David B., digging deep into his Kelly Kollection, sending over raw scans where I then jump in to give them a round of processing.

A note about that: David B. is supplying excellent high resolution scans, but they have to be in two pieces and are in raw condition. After stitching the two pieces together, I spend up to an hour on each strip, attempting to give them the look that I think Kelly intended them to have, knowing the limitations of newsprint printing. The colors should be bright and cheerful, but not garish or too contrasty—yet contrasted enough that the printing seems crisp and clean. I have removed obvious imperfections of the printing process, like blobs of ink, or too much mis-registration of colors, or bleed-through from the other side. I'm trying to keep the nature of the newsprint paper intact, as well as a few imperfections so that it feels like it's right out of the Sunday paper.

These first few strips will be familiar to any Kelly fan who has recently purchased the excellent Fantagraphics first volume of The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips, Pogo: Through the Wild Blue Wonder. But these that we're showing are scanned from the original strips, not from the book. Anyone who doesn't have the book, should go purchase it, and future volumes for your collection. But it's fun to see these newsprint versions and if all goes well, you'll see strips that will not be collected in the books for some time to come.

I'm very grateful to DJ David B. and I hope you are too. We'll still romp around in my collection as well, but these early gems will spice up our view of the Whirled of Kelly!

Oh, and later this week we'll have another Peter Wheat installment, courtesy of our friend OtherEric. Please tell friends to become followers here so that more Kelly fans can enjoy his cartooning genius, and spread the word even further.

June 18, 1950

I'm going to start dating strips so you can appreciate the context of its time

Above is a detail of a panel, so as to appreciate Kelly's cartooning technique, and likewise below from the original art as published in the Fantagraphics Volume 1 collection.

9 comments:

Thank you,Mr THB!Your love for the art and artist(s) show.And I like very much that you work so hard to present the episodes/stories in such high quality.You are spreading joy,and it's welcomed in this grim world.Keep up the good work!Cheers!/Mr Anonymous

Just want to add my appreciation for your hard work in putting these strips up for us all to see. I've always enjoyed your Sunday strips the most since they're rare to see at all and especially in color. This here now particular strip with Howland apparently in egg form is going to make me finally go out and buy the Fantagraphics reprint vol. 1 to see what really happened to Howland. This book was in "not released" status for so long that I thought it probably never would come out. And I remembered hearing years ago that the Sundays would be black and white, so I was excited when I learned (I believe it was in your review of the book) that they're in color. So, once again, thanks! And thank DJ David B. for these and all his strips to come. --Jim Prior

Wow! You did a great job cleaning up my scans. I thought it was hard work scanning the Sunday pages but it's nothing compared to the hour you spend touching up each strip. I'm impressed! I'll scan more as soon as I have time. (Word to the wise: replace your water heater if it's more than ten years old or you may find yourself with a flooded basement.) (Second word to the wise: Do not store your valuable collectibles in the basement, next to the water heater.)

About Me

My name is Thom Buchanan.
I'm an artist and photographer.
People are my favorite subjects to portray in art and photos. My wife (and studio partner) has called that my 'people skills', as I've been passionately creating portrait studies for many years.
I refer to myself as a pictorialist, a combination of image-making and journalist. Images are my life.

I AM POSTING THESE IMAGES WITH THE NOTION THAT I AM DOING SO WITH A NON-PROFIT AND EDUCATIONAL 'FAIR USE' MOTIVE, REGARDING RESPECTIVE COPYRIGHTS. ANYONE DOWNLOADING AND USING THESE IMAGES FOR ANY COMMERCIAL USE WOULD BE IN VIOLATION OF RESPECTIVE COPYRIGHTS, AND DOES NOT HAVE MY APPROVAL FOR SUCH USE. PLEASE SHARE IN EDUCATION AND DON'T TRY TO MAKE MONEY FROM IT WITHOUT PROPER AUTHORITY.